Two-plane slab construction



June 7, 1938. c. F. DAVIS I TWO-PLANE SLAB CONSTRUCTION Filed Jan. 9, 1950' IN VE-NTOR.

zM/zffimV/J, Mamm ATTORNEY.

Patented June 7, 1938 TWO-PLAN E SLAB CONSTRUCTION Clarke F. Davis, Short Hills, N. J., assignor to American Cyanamid & Chemical Corporation,

New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application January a, 1936, Serial No. 58,252 I 3 Claims.

The present application is directed to subject matter disclosed in my co-pending application Serial 180,655,591.

The present invention relates to a buildin construction using precastslabs having a body of set cementitious material of which gypsum is typical and carrying at two or more opposite edges of such body, metal elements which serve not only to protect the edges during shipment, erection or other handling, but which also lend strength to building constructions involving such slabs, to the end that load carrying ability is developed in such constructions far in excess of anything which can be expected without. such edge reinforcements.

In the preferred form, the members occurring on opposite edges of such slabs are complementarilyshaped, such, for instance, as corresponding tongues and grooves so'that when two such slabs are erected adjacent each other they may be tongued and grooved together in a definite frictional interlock. This makes for a very strong construction.

Theuse of slabs as above described has now become standard in many building constructions as they have qualities which the trade 'has readily accepted as desirable.

The present invention is particularly concerned with the use of such slabs in building constructions where areas or planes come together at an angle, such for instance, as occurs at the peak of a roof.

stantially repeated. This practice necessarily provides at the peak of the roof abutting ends of completely severed slabs, which has, in some instances, been found to be undesirable.

The present invention, therefore contemplates in any situation where two slab planes intersect at an angle, that a single slab may be made to occupy both planes by partially severing the slab body and its metal edges so that the slab may be bent to occupy both planes, the metal edge extending continuously into both planes.

The invention further consists in the novel arrangement,

parts more fully hereinafter described and shown in the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing the manner of carrying a slab into two planes;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the arrangement of Fig. l and includes a ridge pole and roof purlins, or other supports.

Referring now with particularity to the drawing, which is provided for illustrative purposes only, the slab body is shown at l to consist of gypsum or the like with or without admixtures such as wood chips to which have been applied at the time of casting, metal edge members. These members consist of a metal body 2 having top and bottom flanges 3 and 4 extending generally in the direction of the slab width with inturned ends 5 to prevent accidental separation of the metal edge from the body, and being provided on the one hand with a groove 6 and on the other hand with a corresponding tongue I. In this way, when two slabs are arranged with their edges adjacent each other, the tongue and groove 8 and 8 respectively, form a tight frictional joint. In the present showing, body I is provided with a portion 8 which overlies the top flange 4 of the metal elements, although this is not essential.

Where it is desired to extend a slab into two planes, the body I! is completely severed and the metal elements 2 partially severed as shown in Fig. 1, that is to say, each metal element is severed with the exception of the bottom flange 3 and the turned-in end 5. In this condition, the slab may be bent to occupy two planes as shown in Fig. 1, the.turned-in end 5 collapsing upon itself as at 9.- Under these circumstances, it will be apparent that while the slab body is actually in two pieces, one lying in each plane, yet the lower flanges 3 and turned-in ends 5 extend from'one plane into the other as a continuous element. This continuity makes for strength inasmuch as it definitely ties together the pieces of the slab on each side of the dihedral apex.

While obviously this situation may be used wherever it is desired to extend a slab into two planes which have the effect of a dihedral, yet the most usual application will be to a roof peak such as is shown in Fig. 2. There the ridge pole is.indicated at l0 and the roof supports at H, upon which the slab l is laid, in the manner above described. The open V between the severed ends ofthe slab body may be filled with grout or the like, l2, and covered by suitable water-proofing material as shown at l3.

the same composition as that of the cementitious body I of the slab, a particularly efficient construction results inasmuch as the severed body is restored on each side of the peak into its initially integral construction, the grout serving as the bond between these two parts.

In the claims, where the word "surfaces is used is meant two intersecting planes which slabs may occupy, regardless of the use to which these planes may be put.

While the invention has been shown and described with particular reference to a specific situation, yet obviously I do not wish to be limited thereto but the invention is to be construed broadly and limited only by the scope of the claims. 4 k

I claim:

1. A building construction having two surfaces at an angle to each other, including a precast slab having a body of set, cementitious material,

a metal edge reinforcing member carried by said body, said member including a portion substantially parallel to a slab face and another portion substantially at right angles thereto. a portion of said body constituting a portion of each of the two surfaces, said member portions being continuous into both of said surfaces.

2. The building construction of claim 1 in which the metal reinforcement comprises a pair of members located on opposite edges of the body, and which are complementarily tongued and grooved.

3. The building construction of claim 1 in which the metal reinforcement comprises a pair of members located on opposite edges of the body, and which are complementarily tongued and grooved, a portion of each metal member extending over the line of intersection of said two surfaces being collapsed on itself.

- CLARKE F. DAVIS. 

